Green-fingered locals on a hard-up Tyneside estate are rolling up their sleeves to create a green oasis.

Green-fingered locals on a hard-up Tyneside estate are rolling up their sleeves to create a green oasis.

Residents on the Meadow Well in North Shields, have built a thriving market garden aimed at boosting job prospects.

Fragrant herbs, prize-winning vegetables, colourful flowers and shrubs are blooming on the two-and-a-half hectare site at the Meadows Community Centre on Waterville Road.

Bosses behind the scheme are hoping to turn it into an established garden centre providing training and jobs.

Horticultural manager Therese Diamond, 36, from Hebburn, said: "We launched the garden on the public yesterday and it went down really well. Lots of people were browsing around.

"At the moment we have two polytunnels full of produce and a vegetable patch, but we are hoping to expand.

"We've had about 14 people of all ages working on it for 10 weeks with kids from the estate and I am proud of what they've achieved. Everything is starting to bloom.

"This project will provide training in all aspects of growing food and flowers, as well as the retail side."

The market garden is part of a four-pronged scheme funded by the Community Fund and Community Foundation to set up a community joinery workshop selling furniture, a creche and a cafe on the estate.

The project is working with the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, which is putting four people through NVQ qualifications in horticulture.

Carole Bell, manager of the Meadows Community Centre, said: "Everything we grow and sell will be ploughed back into the centre.

"A lot of the people we will involve are New Deal or NVQ students who have been on the dole a long time and can't see light at the end of the tunnel. It is great to see people gaining a skill and seeing the enthusiasm and drive which comes with it. The more jobs we can create, the better."